


Mind Rift

by Mordukai



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-03
Updated: 2013-09-03
Packaged: 2017-12-25 12:26:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/953088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mordukai/pseuds/Mordukai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>People are disappearing from Bryn Celli Ddu and the Ynys Môn MP calls in the Torchwood team for some help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mind Rift

The Ynys Môn MP looked up from the report he had just read, just about ready to throw himself off the Menai Bridge in despair.  
“Call Torchwood,” he snapped at his secretary. “It’s happened again.” He looked back down at the missing people folder on his desk and cradled his head in his hands. What was happening to his peaceful island?

0o0

Jack was pacing his office. Up and down, up and down, up and down. He had to be missing something. His team had been going over and over this case, but to no avail. Gwen had suggested that it was nothing, simply human related, something for the police to sort out. Jack wasn’t so sure. There was something peculiar about these holiday photos. He had a hunch, and he certainly wasn’t going to ignore it.

He peered at the photos again, searching for anything that connected them. All he was missing was the link, the link between these otherwise ordinary but completely different victims. He couldn’t spot it though. What connected a thirty odd Afrikaans woman with a nineteen year old Hispanic boy? And what connected either of them with a seventy year old Caucasian man? And what about the family of Canadian tourists? Only one of them had disappeared, and yet the devastated family claimed that none of them had taken their eyes off the twenty year old autistic genius. There were eleven victims in total, and all had disappeared in the Anglesey ward of Llanidan. Jack wondered if there was something significant to do with the number of victims, but couldn’t make the theory work. His eyes flicked to the clock and the wall, and he realised that he had been desperately searching for answers for nine hours. He was in need of three o’ clock coffee break, but he hadn’t heard Ianto arrive. He groaned inwardly and turned back to the task at hand. With the help of the Ynys Môn council, Torchwood had narrowed the site of the disappearances down to an ancient prehistoric monument near the village of Llanddaniel Fab. If it wasn’t for the fact that everyone who had been with the victims had claimed that their family members had simply vanished before their eyes, then Torchwood would have dropped out earlier. There was only one thing Jack had noticed about all of the photos he had been given by the frazzled MP, and he couldn’t even be sure if it was really there.

A tap at the office door brought Jack out of his reverie. Ianto slipped his head round the doorframe.  
“Coffee?” he asked.  
“You have impeccable timing, Mr. Jones,” Jack replied with a grin.

Ten minutes later Jack had finished his coffee and cleared his head. The caffeine boost was all he had needed and he was raring to go.  
“Ianto, look at these,” he said, pointing to the snapshots laid out on the desk. Ianto obediently looked.  
“He’s a bit young for you, isn’t he?”  
“Ianto, this is serious. Whose photos do you think these are?”  
“I can only suggest the families of the missing tourists?” Ianto sighed. “Jack, please, I thought we’d dropped this case-”  
“This is Torchwood business, Ianto. I know it.”  
“If you’re sure. I agree with Gwen though. There’s enough stuff going on here in Cardiff with the rift, without trying to solve the rest of Wales’ problems.”  
“Just look at the photos!”  
“Jack, please. There’s nothing in them except tourists.”  
“You’re not looking hard enough. Look harder!” Ianto obliged. And gasped. He had seen the shadows.

The shadow was something Jack had been puzzling over for a few weeks. To begin with, it was quite hard to notice, it being just a dark smudge in an already gloomy picture. What had got Jack’s brain ticking was that regardless of light source or intensity, or even the positions of the people, the shadow was always the same, never even flickering: an almost humanoid figure stood poised behind the missing tourist. The one person out of each family, who had gone missing, taken at the scene of the crime. Jack didn’t believe in coincidences.

“Ianto, have you ever been to Anglesey?”  
“No, Jack, I don’t believe I have.” Jack patted him on the shoulder.  
“Well you, sir, are in for a treat,” he said with a smile.

0o0

They drove through soggy Wales in the SUV, Ianto driving, Jack in the passenger seat and Gwen sulking in the back, having been dragged away from her weekend plans with Rhys again.  
“This is a waste of time,” she grumbled. Jack and Ianto ignored her. She would get over it. She wasn’t usually like this, but Jack had to admit that he had promise her the weekend off.  
“That’s what working for Torchwood is like, hun,” said Jack eventually. “You know that.”  
“I know,” Gwen sighed. “It’s just I promised Rhys, and he was really looking forward to it.”  
“It’s family or Torchwood, Gwen. Not both.”

“Porthaethy. Creoso.” Ianto read the sign out loud as he drove off the bridge and onto the island. “Where to now, Jack?”  
“Bryn Celli Ddu,” Jack answered with an excited grin. “The Neolithic burial mound where all of the disappearances took place.” He looked over his shoulder at the back seat. “Was that a smile, Gwen? I know how much you love a good burial chamber!” Gwen couldn’t help but smile a little at this, so infectious was Jack’s boyish grin.

They couldn’t access the mound with the SUV, so had to park it in the visitor car park and trek across the fields to their goal. Although Gwen was now muddy (Anglesey was always muddy), wet (it was raining; typical Welsh weather) and prickled, scratched and stung (she’s worn the wrong trousers for this kind of vegetation) even she couldn’t help feeling excited. It was just that sort of place.

Before too long they reached the burial mound.  
“About time,” Ianto muttered under his breath.

Jack began by poking around in the undergrowth on his hands and knees. The others were beginning to grow impatient with him when he finally stood up.  
“Pass me the bio scanner, Ianto.” Ianto handed him the strange, alien technology that he had been holding and watched as Jack began waving it around. “Aha!” he said softly as the odd machine began to hum, buzz, fizz and generally give off disturbing noises. Gwen moved in to get a closer look but Jack waved her back. “Leave this to me,” he said, before disappearing inside the mound.

It was small, smaller than it had looked. Dark as well, save for the candle burning at the other end. A beautiful, wondrous piece of archeology, but Jack wasn’t interested in any of that. He ran his hands over the cold stone walls, searching for a hint of the alien presence that the scanner had picked up. Nothing. His eyes were adjusting to the darkness, and if he turned back the way he had came, he could just about see Gwen, peering after him. He waved the scanner some more. Surely it should at least be picking up a trace of something, he thought, seeing as it had before. He was considering turning back and giving up, coming back another day when he had more idea of what he was looking for. He waved the bio scanner once more, this time swinging it in a loop over his head, partly from frustration, partly in the hope that there would be something hiding up there. His hands grazed the rough ceiling and drew blood, but it was nought but a sting of pain. Suddenly he stopped. The technology let out a furious beep: he had found his alien.

The others were still outside, plaiting their paws, waiting impatiently for Jack, when a loud cry rang out, originating from the mound.  
“That can’t be…?” Gwen jumped up from where she had been sitting, her jeans muddy and damp.  
“Jack?” Ianto yelled, but there was no answer, just the rustle and flap of several departing birds. Ianto rushed to the entrance and peered into the gloomy interior. By the eerie flicker of the candle, he could see that the burial mound was empty. “Gwen, he’s gone,” he called, worry lines creasing his face. They couldn’t solve this mystery without Jack.  
“Ianto!” Gwen screamed, as a sputter of movement behind him shocked her. Ianto’s eyes widened as he was knocked off his feet. He landed on the hard ground with a bump, then scrambled upright just in time to see a shadow vanish into the bracken.  
“Follow it!” he screeched.

They tailed what they guessed was the alien that Jack had found for quite a long distance, fighting their way through the Welsh countryside at a much quicker pace than before, but lost it when they reached the road. It had headed in the direction of the nearest village, and the last they saw of it was a flicker of a shadow racing around the corner.  
“What would Jack do?” Gwen paced around Ianto in a circle, making him dizzy.  
“Stop it, Gwen; you’re making me feel sick.” Gwen stopped circling, but carried on pacing.  
“It is the alien, isn’t it? I mean, how can we be sure we haven’t been tailing a rabbit or something.”  
“Jack vanished,” Ianto said. “This was the only movement. We know that the alien we were looking for only showed up as a shadow. This creature appears to have no physical form; we would have seen it by now.” He listed everything on his fingers.  
“Fine,” said Gwen, folding her arms. “Now let’s go and rescue Jack.”  
“That’s more like it,” said Ianto with a smile.

0o0

The village seemed a good place to start enquiries. Gwen was a little less panicky now.  
“Excuse me, we’re doing inquiries for the police,” Gwen smiled, flashing her badge at a passing civilian. “Have you noticed anything unusual around here at all?” The youth thought for a moment.  
“This is about them disappearances, isn’t it?” Gwen nodded. “I dunno. Nothing’s odd here, ‘cept for everyone being more wary.”  
“Ok, thanks for your time.” Gwen was about to carry on walking when the youth said something else.  
“Oh, something’s happening up at the old training school. Probably legit, but you never know.”

Ianto was in a black mood. He hated racing against the clock, especially when he didn’t know how much time was left. Torchwood couldn’t afford to lose Jack.  
“We don’t have time to check out some daft training school,” he muttered, and Gwen glared at him.  
“You got a better idea?” she snapped.  
“Yes,” said Ianto defiantly. “Why don’t we talk to some more people? Surely we should find out more information before acting on a hunch.”  
“What people?” asked Gwen, gesturing around at the empty, silent high street.

Ianto parked the SUV on the grass verge opposite the old school.  
“What is this place?” he asked.  
“Naval training school, The Indefatigable. 1944-1995. Ianto, it’s been closed for almost fifteen years. Why is the sign freshly painted?” Ianto checked. The paint was still damp.  
“Because someone’s using the building?” asked Ianto sarcastically. “Does it look weird?”  
“I don’t know,” said Gwen. “It looks normal to me.”  
“There’s a person,” Ianto said suddenly, pointing out of the car window at a woman pottering around her garden holding a green and pink watering can.  
“Very well,” said Gwen. “It’s a start.”

0o0

“What do you want?” Jack yelled, straining against his restraining bonds. He couldn’t turn his head or move his arms or legs, and his chest was beginning to feel tight. The iridium chains were crushing him, cutting off circulation and slowly suffocating him.  
“Your mind,” was the chilling answer. “Your knowledge.”  
“My… what about the other people? Why did you take them?”  
“We crave your brain.” Jack groaned.  
“One track minds. I hate ‘em.” The shadow creature ignored his jip.  
“Your slaves are close, but they’ll never find you.”  
“My... they’re not- never mind. Of course they will, they’re smart enough.

0o0

Ianto and Gwen were sat in the front room of the house directly opposite, being served coffee and buns. They could see the training school through the large bay window. The old lady’s previous words had worried them.  
“Ooh, the ministry owns that now. We don’t know what goes on in there!”  
“Who exactly is ‘the ministry’?” Gwen asked gently.  
“Not entirely sure. Mainly foreigners, I think,” was the answer.

0o0

“No connection. Your victims are completely unconnected. A middle aged woman here, an adolescent boy there. Young Welsh man, old American woman. Etcetera etcetera.”  
“Your mind will be tasty. You are a fixed point. You have seen a lot.”  
“You are not going to eat my brain, dammit! Hang on, brain, brain… There must be a connection. Oh god, how come I didn’t see it before? They’re all scientists! Scientists and geniuses!”

0o0

“The council!” Gwen leapt up from the sofa. “I’m very sorry, we’ll have to leave.”  
“Thank you for the coffee,” Ianto thanked the woman quietly.

Ianto was driving the SUV, but he didn’t quite know why. Gwen was giving him directions.  
“Left here, no left. Ianto! Left!” Ianto swung the wheel just in time to take the turn off onto the main road.  
“Sorry,” he muttered, his mind fixed on other things. He pulled up to the council building and they got out.

0o0

“I’m the cleverest person you’ve come across, aren’t I?” yelled Jack. “You don’t know what you’re dealing with here!”

0o0

They sat for ten minutes while security cleared them to speak to Mr Jones, MP. Gwen was frozen except for the slow clenching and unclenching of her fists. Ianto on the other hand was twitching and fidgeting as if he had ants in his pants.  
“Ok,” said the blonde receptionist, whose cheerful smile and bubbly voice were grating Ianto’s nerves. “You can go up now.”  
“Thanks,” said Ianto through clenched teeth. They took the stairs.

Ianto rapped sharply on the door and a moment later they had been welcomed in by Mr Jones himself.  
“Do you have any idea what’s happening?” he asked frantically. “Oh, I’m sorry, please take a seat.” He motioned to two straight backed chairs. “I don’t know what to do, I just don’t!” he wailed as Gwen and Ianto stayed standing. “Please sit down.” They sat.  
“Do you have any information about the Indefatigable Training school?” asked Ianto. “What sort of project do you have going on there?” The MP looked confused.  
“The old training school? We’re not doing anything there.” Gwen looked at Ianto, who shrugged.  
“Are you sure?” she asked.  
“Of course I’m sure!” said Mr Jones. “Please, can we get back to the matter at hand?” Gwen stood up abruptly.  
“Come on Ianto,” she said. They left the office, leaving the MP staring at the door in disbelief.

0o0

“Your brain will enable us to open a rift.” The alien made a giggling sound. “We would say ‘watch your civilization burn’, but you will be dead!”

0o0

“Where are we going?” puffed Ianto, out of breath as he chased Gwen down the stairs and out of the building.  
“Training School,” said Gwen. They got in the SUV. “The paint, the ‘foreigners’, that kid mentioning it...” Ianto nodded and hit the accelerator.

0o0

“You don’t seem so confident now,” whispered the alien in Jack’s ear. He couldn’t see it; he still couldn’t turn his head. “My last brain...” Its voice slipped into a low hiss.  
“You don’t know what you’re doing...” Jack was beginning to see stars, his vision blurring. The heavy chains bearing down on his chest were slowly choking the life out of him.  
“I know exactly what I am doing,” whispered the alien, moving away from Jack towards the make shift control panel it had set up.  
“You don’t. I can’t die.”  
“You will live and live and live, trapped, forever,” hissed the alien gleefully. “You will feed our rift for eternity.” Jack heard a door open and shut, but the alien was too engrossed to notice. “About time,” he whispered.

“Jack?” Gwen hissed. She was inside the training school’s main building and had her gun fixed on what she guessed was the alien’s back. It was hard to tell, because it was nothing more than a grey blur with psychic powers.  
“Gwen!” Jack hissed back. “Don’t shoot it; it’s a Shadow for god’s sake. What are you doing here?”  
“Rescuing you, you idiot!” She slipped over to him, hoping that the alien would stay busy. She cut him loose with another piece of alien technology, burning through the metal easily and he rubbed at the angry red welts on his wrists and head.  
“Damn, these aliens must have been in the cub scouts.” Gwen put a finger on her lips and laid a small device on the chair.  
“Run!” she whispered, activating the device. She grabbed his hand, dragging him away from the not quite so oblivious alien. It had turned round, but it didn’t seem to realise that it was in danger and was investigating the device. “Run faster!” she yelled, and they pounded through the corridor towards the front door. “Ten,” she whispered. “Nine, eight.”  
“Why did it take so long to find me?”  
“Five, four. Because we had no idea where you were. Two.” They slammed through the door to where Ianto was sitting in the SUV. “One,” whispered Gwen, and inside the building the device exploded in a ball of orange fire. The shockwave hit the car, knocking them in their seats as Ianto accelerated away. Watching from the window Gwen saw the huge grey mushroom cloud bloom from the burning wreckage, and heard the scream of the fire engines already on their way to the scene. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a glimmer of a shadow, but dismissed it as nothing. It wouldn’t try again in the same place.

0o0

Back at the hub, Jack was angry.  
“You should have left me!”  
“If we’d left you, we wouldn’t have prevented a second rift,” Gwen reminded him.  
“Anyway,” added Ianto. “You’ve risked your life enough for the world. It was time for the world to risk its life for you.”

THE END


End file.
